Vikings coaches can't change everything in Week 15, but what they can do theoretically is go back to some basic principles that led to last year's success under former offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur and quarterback Case Keenum.
Leader among those principles, in the passing game, was Keenum's prolific throwing after faking a handoff. The Vikings had Keenum running play-action passes on nearly 29 percent of attempts, which ranked as 2017's (second) most behind only L.A.'s Jared Goff, according to Pro Football Focus.
Keenum's 111.8 passer rating off play-action throws was the NFL's fourth-best mark, behind Marcus Mariota, Matthew Stafford and ... Kirk Cousins (118.7) in Washington.
This year, Cousins has been the NFL's highest-volume passer this season, but just 18.6 percent of those attempts are derived from play-action. Maybe one of John DeFilippo's biggest gaffes as Vikings play caller was how often he diverted from play-action passes.
ANDREW KRAMMER
